“Cases covering five Samsung tablet and 10 smartphone models in Dusseldorf have been delayed for months by Samsung filings at the European Union Trademark Office in Alicante, Spain, in a bid to invalidate the intellectual property at the center of the dispute,” Matussek reports. “The German suits over the design of the products are scheduled to be put on hold until the process in Spain is completed. ‘Even if the invalidity procedures fail in the end, the attacked products will no longer be on the market once the court can finally issue a ruling,’ said Oliver Ruhl, a patent litigator at Rau, Schneck & Huebner in Nuremberg, Germany. In the meantime, Apple’s claims ‘are going nowhere.'”

Matussek reports, “Apple scored one of its biggest victories in Germany as part of the global patent battle between makers of smartphones and tablet computers that also includes Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc.’s Motorola Mobility. A Dusseldorf court last year issued an EU-wide ban on Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Tab 10.1 computer. While the order was later restricted to Germany, it allowed Apple to reiterate its claim that Samsung ‘slavishly’ copies the iPad’s design.”

MacDailyNews Take: And the iPhone. And that’s some wild claim by Apple.

Apple’s products came first, then Samsung’s:

By the way, here’s what Google’s Android looked like before and after Apple’s iPhone:

Matussek reports, “In August, Apple won a $1.05 billion U.S. jury verdict in a patent case between the companies…”